Inducted in 2024 Category: Athlete
Of all the athletes that have donned the Maroon & White of the Saint Mary’s Huskies, none have accomplished as much as Justine Colley-Leger BComm’14, arguably the greatest women’s basketball player in the history of Canadian University Sport.
A proud native of East Preston, NS, Justine began playing basketball at eight years old, and quickly fell in love with the sport. She went on to star at Halifax Grammar School, and despite scholarship offers from countless NCAA and Canadian universities, decided to pursue her education across the street at Saint Mary’s University.
Justine joined a Huskies team that had gone 2-18 in the previous season, and immediately made a huge impact, leading them to a 12-8 season and a second-place finish in the AUS. She was named Atlantic University Sport Rookie of the Year, a First Team AUS All-Star, and was named to the CIS All-Rookie Team.
Those accolades were just the beginning for Justine, as she continued to blossom into a superstar over her five years at Saint Mary’s. She led the Huskies to new heights, elevating the team to it’s first ever CIS #1 ranking, two AUS Championships and two medals at CIS Nationals (silver in 2014, bronze in 2013).
Her individual accolades include being named the CIS Female Athlete of the Year in 2014, Nan Copp Award for CIS Player of the Year in 2014 & 2013, 2x AUS Most Valuable Player, 4x CIS All-Canadian and 5x AUS All-Star.
No player in the history of Canadian University women’s basketball has scored as many points as Justine’s 2,376 over her five seasons. She was recognized as one of the Top 100 Women’s Basketball Players of the Century in 2020, and was inducted into the Nova Scotia Sport Hall of Fame in 2019.
Colley-Leger went on to play over 40 games with the Canadian Women’s National Basketball Team, before moving into the next phase of her life – raising her family. Colley-Leger lives in East Preston with her husband Maj. Nicolas Leger and her four children.
Sport continues to be a considerable part of Justine’s life—she now plays in the semi-professional Maritime Women’s Basketball Association—and in 2023 accepted the position of Athletic Director at Halifax Grammar School. She’s having a ball and is also putting her Major in Finance to good use, creating budgets and using some of the time management skills she gained during her university years when she had to juggle sports, academics, part-time work, and family life.
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